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1 | Long Nights | |||||||||||||||||
2 | Long nights (a metaphor for overworking) is a spreadsheet written by students and for students studying in creative programs at universities. | |||||||||||||||||
3 | It aims to produce a first collection of anonymous descriptions of how the various universities deal with preparing us for the precarious working conditions in the creative industries. | |||||||||||||||||
4 | Participate here: long nights form | |||||||||||||||||
5 | Name of your university | Country you are studying in | What is your subject of study | Have you ever thought about the fact that the university prepares you to be exploited? Or do you think that's total nonsense? | Can you describe a situation in which you worked at night for the university? (How long? Could you work better at night? Did you have time pressure? Were you at home or at the university?) Feel free to make a short story out of it :) | How long do you have access to the rooms at your university? (e.g. 24/7 or till 9pm during the week) | Do you suffer or have you ever suffered from mental health problems related to the stress level in your studies? | Have you ever worked unpaid for the reputation of your university? What was your job? Why didn't you get anything for it? Did you question it? | Are there any periods of time when you don't want to receive news from your university? In which participation should not be compulsory? (e.g. emails at 5 am or courses where Profs a still in the room after 9 pm) Do you have examples where this has been exceeded? | Are there discussions at your university (not only among students) about unpaid internships? What is your opinion on this issue? | Are your professors workaholics and expect the same amount of work from you? | What other experiences have you had at university that you would like to share with us? | ||||||
6 | HTW Dresden | Germany | Industrial Design | I have not thought about that yet | In my first year everyone else was working in the night, it was cool to hang out, listen to music drink some beers and working on our projects all night long. It was a little bit like a competition: " I was till 4am at university" or " I even brusched my teeth here" In my second yeah I finally realized, for me it is very important to have free time in the evening and a good amount of sleep,I wasn't concentrated during the nights and it was an irritating something between a party and working. | if you were inside, you could stay all night | No | No, except maybe a buffet for an exhibition | for me it is important to have an evening or weekend off | No it was not, I wish it had been an topic in my time | No | What really annoyed me was that the professors seemed to think that we could invest all our time in their project without realizing that there were 3 parallel projects. But that's often the reality, even back in school days. | ||||||
7 | HfBK Dresden | Germany | Costume Design | Yes | At the university, until 10 at night. Time pressure. | 10pm | no | it depends on the professor. Some are workaholics, some not | ||||||||||
8 | Burg Giebichenstein | Germany | Industrial Design | Kind of yes. The fact that you need 3 (up to 6) month of one but mostly more unpaid intership*s is the first step of exploitation. But its also kind of in the nature of our studies because our projects are more personal then in other subjects. We exploit ourselves in comparison with others, the demands of the teachers or our own. | Haha there were more but one especially was so long that I slept in university because it was no longer worthwhile to go home which was pretty close. It was in my first or second semester. The task was to do an stop-motion-film with drawings. It was really fun but not much time. We had a week, so much time pressure yes. | 24/7 | Definitly. I am suffering from panicattacks which got triggered when I have stressful days in university or when I have to do a presentation. I often feel insecure and useless. Scared of the future after my studies. | Yes. Like 3 month. We did a festival which took like almost 6 month to oraganize it. It was nice, but at least also for the reputation of the university. | In the so called non-lecture-period. And also on weekends. | In special groups yes. Or maybe in the higher semester. In the beginning its just like normal to do unpaid internships. And with the time you rethink it and it starts to feel unfair. I think it is important to geh payed! When you do an internship in a small company with 1-3 employees who are not able to pay you and tell you that in the very beginning...well....its not cool but ok. When you can really lern something there - so work for your skills more then for the company. When there are bigger companies who could pay you but don't, that really sucks. We should not work for someone just to have it in our cv. Big and/or famous companies give you internships for not more then 3 month so they don't have to pay you. Thats shit. Nobody should support that. Which ain't easy when you need one to be allowed to study design at all... | Most of them are I think yes. | Puh. No more for today. I have to get up early tomorrow to da a lot for university - also on the weekend... | ||||||
9 | Germany | design | at least university did not encouraged me to resist being exploited | too tired to write a story... you know why | 24/7 | yes | no | i noticed that issue with my fellow students. If you work in close and equal groups, but the people have different worktime preferences, it can get difficult. | don't do it! | some | ||||||||
10 | Hfbk Dresden | Deutschland | Kostümgestaltung | I think they are preparing us for exploitation by telling us it's not getting better in work live later. | Some work I can do better when it's dark outside for example working in front of the desktop. So I choose to do those works late at night. But also sometimes I have time pressure in the atelier, if there is a probation in the next morning and my teacher tells me I will get ready in one hour or two and then it dures much longer her because Im not that experienced in this kind of works... | Everyday of the week from 6am-10pm | Yes | No | There are no discussions but it's obvious that we have to do an unpaid internship in one semester. | Yes | I think there is not enough communication between the teachers about what amount of time the students need for the preparation of the different subjects. Maybe if the would communicate better they would realize that if you would do all the preparations you wouldn't have enough time for sleeping eating and relaxing, which is essential to be creative. | |||||||
12 | Zhdk | Switzerland | Visual Communication Design | Definitely agree with this, many universities prepare you to be a cog in a wheel of the corporate machinery. Education puts alot of emphasis on the need to be marketable and being able differentiate yourself from other students who would have the same qualification as you but very little do they offer training in soft skills that employers look for. | during corona there were limitations to access the university for obvious reasons but in this 2nd phase of the pandemic there is now flexibility for students who are not able to study at home and access is now 24/7 again. | Yes I have and still deal with anxiety and depression around my studies. | Yes, there are courses/workshops designed for unpaid design work posed as transdisciplinary and co-creation workshops where you get to work on briefs from companies that the university then realises. Many times the ideas brought to the companies by students are used and the students are not compensated or even credited with the work. There have been instances in my university that the students were not even aware that their work was being used by the company and the school proceeded to conduct the rest of the project without the student/s who initiated the ideas. | There are times that the courses are changes on the weekend and they were scheduled the next week, for example there was a course in which the lecturer sent the changes on Sunday the class was scheduled for Monday. The length of the course and the teaching outcome changed. | If there are discussions about it I am not aware of them. Unpaid internships should not be tolerated even apprentices are paid, students also have responsibilities we should be paid. | |||||||||
13 | HFBK Hamburg | Germany | Digital Graphic Design | I thought about it. | I barely work at nights, but I do work some hours on weekends. I'm very familiar with working under time pressure, which often results from bad/unrealistic planing and project management. | 24/7 | Just the usual severe stress, fomo, feelings of insufficiency. | Aren't all student projects "for the reputation of your university"? | I'm not sure if I understand the question. | Discussions: Not really. Opinion: Should be illegal. | Workaholics: I guess so. Expectation: Not sure. | In my experience the performative display of working hard, having night shifts at the end of the semester deadline gets a toxic amount of appreciation by other students and professors, when really this should be just seen as a symptom of bad planning. | ||||||
14 | University of Sharjah | UAE | Graphic Design & Multimedia | Kind of, it was justifying overworking, over exhaustion and valuing ourselves based on submission critique days which very rarely had any constructive feedback | I do not know if my situation applies: I've had to work overnight because I had a full time job so I did not have a choice tbh. I was always trying to find an extra minute or two to manage and focus and only had one off day once a month for four years. Third & fourth year were extreme especially where my job wasn't understanding and the project's timelines were calculated as per "normal students". However, the "normal students" were struggling with time as well | 8:00 pm during the week and closed on weekends | YES! i think i might be still suffering with so much anxiety and stress. but it is not only because if university | No | we never received emails & professor were the first ones out of school by 5:30 pm | yes, but there is so much wrongs in the work field to begin with. If you work as a full-time employee you get exploited, overworked and sometimes not paid for months. I'm frankly not surprised that intern students are looked down upon and not paid. Also the university deals with internships as a summer course which doesn't help the students or push the employer to respect. | I am not sure because i do not know them outside of class time. some looked like they were workaholics while others pretended to be | I wish i was taught how to deal with my career as a designer after graduation mentally, emotionally and physically. In college I was in love with all the design-romance, I had hopes and dreams but after graduation there was a huge gap that I need to understand how fill. | ||||||
15 | Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien | Austria | Education in the arts | Yes of course I did | I received a very spontaneous invitation to do an exhibition for the institute. Long story short : no money, shit loads of working hours 1 week of night time sessions. But it was good for the cv (at least someone told me so) ..) | During the week till 9 (officially) | Yes | Story above. Making an exhibition. They said there's no budget. Yes I questioned. | No Contact on weekends wanted (had to learn that painfully) | Yes there is but still the problem is a very structural one and needs to be tackled this way. | Yes they are but they don't expect as much as they work | That art universities are especially institutions that enable informal hierarchies to work pretty well and still be covered by criticizing them. | ||||||
16 | Universität der Künste Berlin | Germany | Visual Communication | Moreso, that there isn't enough done to prepare us NOT to be exploited | End of semester sprint, nights maxing out at 2-3AM. I tend to work better at night when there are less distractions – especiall at university | 24/7 with a house key | No | I helped out building installations of friends but nothing for the uni itself | - | Not so much, unpaid internships are outrageous and should be prohibited by law | Not so much. Most of the long nights were due to bad time management on my end | |||||||
17 | Burg Giebichenstein Halle (Saale) | Germany | Design of Playing and Learning | yes, i think that s a part of the reality both as designer and artist. | I couldn't work better at night and didn't prefer to, sometimes in group-tasks it happened because the others preferred. the myth of working (better) at night was omnipresent. | special rooms like wood-workshop short day hours like 8-18, some labs 6-21 and ateliers/classrooms 24/7 | yes, i was in therapy twice for 3 and 2 years during and after my studies | yes, semester-project was used on afterwards without payment, e.g. as advertisement for the universities book-fair appearance in Frankfurt and Leipzig, and as a "cooperation-project" with the Zoo Halle. Yes i did, but as far as i remember i looked up my contract or general guidelines of my university and they said that all content produced by students incl. copyrights etc can be used by uni or even belongs to them | yes i prefer no news besides mo-fr 8am-18pm, in groupwork a lot | it was the norm but nobody liked it, everybody did it | some yes, i think in general there was not really healthy attitude about freetime, how to set boundaries and life besides work. also combining work with alcohol or drug consume was quite common | former students that where still around (still living in the city) had no jobs, lived on Hartz IV. professors and uni staff neglected to prepare us for future work/job life, they said they could only prepare us as artists - the job part would still be up to us. people said 2% of us would later work in the arts and design, the rest won't find jobs. i remember 5 suicides of people i knew during 6 years of studies | ||||||
18 | UdK Berlin | Germany | Visual Communication | Yes. | I have been studying at night a lot of times, mostly at the end of the semester. But everytime I worked at night for my studies it was a result of poor time management in the first place. | Until 10pm | I have mental health issues but they don't relate to my studies. | I don't recall anything like that in specific. Everytime I did something for uni I mainly and first of all did it for myself. | I choose to receive news or turn on/off my phone, so I am in control of such times. When a professor feels the need to write an e-mail at night he is free to do so but I will choose to read it whenever I want. | Yes. We have a stable network of communication and discourse among students that allow us to share experiences and act upon that (e.g. not applying to a studio when another student tells me about their bad experiences there) | They are all very different, some may do so, but I wouldn't generally say so. | |||||||
19 | Faculdade de Arquitectura de Lisboa | Portugal | Design | My university, at least the design department, does not prepare students to be exploited. They actually encourage them not to accept non paying internships. | Although not having much time to work for the university, due to other activities, I found it better to work between activities, or when I get home in the afternoon. I rarely worked through the night. And yes, I had a lot of time preassure on me, but with organization it worked out fine. | 24/7 I guess, but I rarely go there if it is not to have classes. | There was a time I had a mental breakdown due to stress, but not just because of the university, it was due to doing a lot of activities at the same time, including university. | Never | I never liked receiving emails on the weekends, it gave me anxiety. All the other non mandatory things I just ignored. | There were times professors talked about it, they were strongly against it, and encouraged us never to accept one. I agree with that idea to the point that if you are at a company actually working, applying the knowledge you got from university, you should always get paid. If you are merely watching people work, maybe you can be paid for your commuting expenses. | Most of them yes. Some even think they're subject is the only one in the entire course. | I don't have any | ||||||
20 | UDK | Germany | Visual Communication | Yes, in some ways a university can "use" the students to fix a certain image | I have a very good sense of organisation, so normally I schedule my time so that I work in the day and around 9 pm I am finished. When I was doing my Erasmus in Paris this wasn't possible, even If I knew no-one, I had less social activities but the university was expecting so much it happened I started working at 8 am and finished working at 3 or 4 in the morning. I worked under extreme time pressure and was working both in university and at home. | until 10 pm | Not really, I think mental health problems are there before, the pressure of the studies is just a trigger point which can increase anxiety, depression | No | Yes, sometimes I just avoid checking my university emails. Sometimes it is just too full on informations about topics which just confuse me, I wished I could filter it more to the context, that interest me. | I never heard about it | When I was in Paris, they expected even more out of the students. In Berlin I don't have this feeling. I am myself a workaholic, so if the professor is, it's sometimes even inspiring. | In general there should be more courses and seminars around the topic Psychic Illness, because it's affecting all of us, especially if we spend more times in front of screens. | ||||||
21 | Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design | Germany | Industrial Design | I did not think about that fact a lot, but it did cross my mind and i think the university does not prepare me well for being exploited or how not to get exploited. | Yes i have worked night shifts a LOT at uni! working till 01:00 or so is quite normal and there have been at least 2 or 3 time per semester where i just worked the whole night and continued till the next afternoon. this usually happens before a presentation, so there is a lot of time pressure. | YES | I do it all the time and i do question it. We have a weird thing called agx points, where it is obligatory to work for the university for 75h, go on fairs or represent the university in schools and stuff like this. this should not be obligatory nor should it be unpaid! | well i actually don't care it i get mails at 5am and it is motivating for me if the professors are in the room with us till 9pm, it is just really important that the workload stays same/ managable. Then i don't care when this is happening. and it should still be possible to plan ahead, i you need to work to financially supprt yourself you need to know in advance (not just a few days) how long which days you will have to be in uni and which days you can go work. | work should always be paid! espacially students that have to decide if they can aford to do an internship, because then there is no time to work at the side. that is bullshit. i think we don't talk about that at our university a lot but we should! | some are, some are not. | too many :D | |||||||
22 | Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle | Germany | Communication Design | Its a constant struggle. Because working for myself and following inspiration and interest blend into the pressure of producing outcome that is validated by an "other" – fellow students, professors, an instagram crowd, the design scene, potential workplaces. I see the university as a part of the problem, but i think one should also consider that it is rooted in a bigger context of neoliberalism and a creative industry, in which is is almost not possible to avoid expolitation in some way. | Sitting in the studio all alone, listening to late night jazz, the radiator warming my feet, drawing and feeling the flow. In these moments im grateful for the space and opportunities the art university enviroment offers me. | 24/7 | When I do, its mostly not about the assigments at the university but about the perspectives of working in the creative field afterwards and the uncertainty and precarity | At my university, there are even credit points that are given for unpaid work that serves the reputation of the university, like advertising the university at one's old school. That really sucks. | Being too close to my professor sometimes gives me anxiety because then i feel a responsibility to fully commit to the classes to not disappoint or offend. When a professor has no boundries in their own work habit and for example is reachable 24/7 and responds to mail in the night, it sets the status quo and puts pressure on the students be do so as well. | We are talking about it a lot and think its one of the most obvious examples what is wrong in the design scene. | mostly | Especiall in breaks and off-time, sometimes the space opens up for sharing concerns and insecurities about one's own practice, the future and working creatively in general and I take a lot out of this conversations. Sometimes I get the feeling being a professional in art or design is so much about pretending and that everybody hides their insecurities to not have any disadvantages. Within our studies, we sometimes visit studios and designers to aks them about their work habits and view on the scene and on working in the creative industry and that has been eye-opening almost every time. Providing this transparency is a very helpful and aware way of preparing students for working afterwards. | ||||||
23 | Iceland Academy of the Arts | Iceland | Graphic Design | I'm not sure | I have worked over the night for a few times, we were a couple of students turning in a big assignment the day after and were finishing everything up til 4 or 5 o'clock. I think it can be fun to work at night sometimes when you have the right people with you and as long as you have energy, its totally boring working alone in the night. I was working over night because of time pressure but it was not because the assignment was to big, it was simply because I took a last minute U - turn for my project. We can get overnight passes in at the uni so we can basically stay there all night without being bothered. | Usually we have access till midnight but we can ask for a night pass so we can stay there all night | Not extreme but do get anxiety sometimes when there is a lot to do for all classes or when I feel like I can't deliver my best for a overview | No the uni always offers money that will be taken off our tuition fees | According to our timetable we are done at 5 pm so I dont like getting important emails after 5 pm but | no, we talk with our teachers a lot about how we should always get paid for our work and they usually help us to price ourself regarding work | not at all, they understand we need breaks sometimes but still challenge us | |||||||
24 | Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle | Communications Design | Society / Political Discourse and Research | I think that is true. Prepares to self-exploitation might be more precise | I try to avoid doing it. If it happens, I try to reflect on why it's happening. | 24/7 | yes | there is a module in our curriculum that "forces" you to work 70 hours for the university in order to get 3 credit points. Its obligatory. | no mails after 19:00 Monday to Friday would be great and absolutely no mail on the weekends. but that's not happening right now. | yes, profs are making this a topic and advice us not to do it. I think its very a exploitative and unethical practice. | all of them are, I think a lot of them expect the same from us, but there is a general questioning about work/life balance going on | I experience a growing and often critical discourse about those topics, but overworking feels like a broadly accepted practice or bad habit like smoking. you know its bad but you still do it. | ||||||
25 | Burg Giebichenstein Halle | Germany | Industrialdesign | Yes | I don't like to work at night, I stoped doing it after my bachelor. Doing my bachelor project I was in the workshop till 3am, all the big machines were turned off, but to work with the hand tools as well seems to me careless and dangerous afterwards. My time off is important to me, and good time management is also essential for the job! Unfortunately, the universities where I studied don't seem to see that as an important point. Even if you manage to work constantly and decide early in the semester what you want to create in the project, there are professors who like to throw everything to the wind two weeks before the deadline and force you to work night shifts. | 24/7 | Yes, the university is not the reason, but often the trigger for my depression | In summer 19 we had an student organizied festival about design education, the organisation was based in an semsters project. In the end the work for the festival was about two month longer than an normal semester. We questioned it, and we asked about compensation, each of us got some more credit points, but it still felt a little bit ridiculous. We worked hard and at some points it felt as we had no support from university, when the festival turned out to be a success, the university even boasted that it was organised by students. | I often get mails on the weekend. It makes me suffer, because I cannot choose consciously to take a Sunday off and not concentrate my thoughts on university. | Among the students yes. But I never heard an Professor talk about it. | Some are. I don't know if it is my feeling or if they really expect the same amount from me as well. | Once I was talking with professors about my oppinion, that there should be more interdisciplinary courses at our campus. One professor told me, thats not necessary because of our basic course, the students know each other well enough to help each other out. I was a little bit shocked. I think we should not be trained to do work for friends (of course it is fine if the helping out is balanced). I am suffering with friends outside from university asking me to design or build something for them, because it is creative and makes me fun, they are unwilling to pay for it, but in the end it is my job. It would be nice to hear from professors that you are worth getting paid for your work and not that it is normal to help out all the time. It is important that design and art students learn what their work is worth! | ||||||
26 | HTW Dresden | Germany | Design: Produkt und Kommunikation | I've never sensed that my teachers exploit me specifically. But as part of the university system, which forces to receive enough credit points in a specific amount of time, the workload is immense. | My first experience was in the beginning of my studies just ahead of my exams. All the exams where in one week, that kept me busy until midnight and forced me to stand up early in the mornings. I thought it's always the same, I experienced similar moments in my technical study before. In my second semester two classes coudn't take place because of the corona pandemic. I had a lot of time to put much more effort in each project, felt relaxed and enthusastic. But that changed when reaching the third semester. Still the same situation with corona but now we have to do the two classes we missed last semester. Sometimes I have moments I just want to cry, I feel stressed out, stay up all day and work sometimes 12h a day and am still not satisfied with my work. | At the moment no access, but normally 24/7. | I've never recognized signs of mental health problems. | We had a project with another university. Everyone of us did several proposals of posters, only one got picked at the end. She did got paid for her work but I cannot tell if it was enough for her effort. | Not specifically. It was the other way around. The responded me up till 10p.m.. | I haven't done any intership yet and am not able to tell if others of my university experienced it. | Never had the feeling I haven't done enough. | Our study is in change and there are some people who are willing to change it. It was my professor who suggested this survey. And I'm hoping to be part of this change. I did once a badly paid graphic work but not in university and a lot of unpaid work for friends, so I hope this statistic can reach much more crative people willing to change the poor working conditions! | ||||||
27 | Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule | Germany | Communication Design | Yes, I did. | In my first four semesters I worked quite often at night (at home and at university), because I had the feeling I had to for many differnt reasons like group pressure and also because I wanted to create the best possible outcome. But after 2-3 episodes of feeling really stressed out, I was able to be more "laid-back" and now I know about the importance of breaks and doing other stuff. | 24/7 | Yes | Yes, I worked for one of my professo and there is only one possible contact at my university, which allows working for 20h per month and in the end I had +150 overtime hours, which were unpaid. I liked the job, because I learnt a lot, but felt exploited. | Yes, but more towards messages by my fellow students. WhatsApp Groups etc. are getting really on my nerves. | There are some discussions, but mainly among students. And almost all agree on unpaid or underpaid internships are exploitative, because work should always be paid and highly unfair, because many students can`t afford to work for free. | some yes, some no | |||||||
28 | Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle | Germany | Industrial Design | I don't think I get the question right. If you mean, that the university treats me in such a way that I am getting used to being exploited, then no... | I am pretty good at choosing to stop working. My life has taught me that its gonna work out anyways, however much effort I put into it. So no, I never worked at night and I am not planning to :) | 24/7 to my workplace, til 4pm on weekdays to the shops and library | Nope | I never did, but working unpaid for the university is part of studying there. Such as representing it at fairs, or, what I would like to do, presenting the university at my former high school to get others interested in studying there... | Yeah, sometimes I get e-mails in the middle of the night. But I only respond during the day on weekdays, and if I would ever get in trouble for missing some due date or whatever because I didn't respond right away, I would stand up for myself and tell the prof to politely suck it :) | I didn't talk to many people about that yet, but every time I do, it is clear, that we all know what we are capable of and wouldn't take an unpaid internship. Well most people. One of my friends gets paid way to little for what she is doing, but she is not the kind of person who would stand up and open her mouth, or leave, even though she knows its wrong... | Some do. well, only one actually. Another is not a workaholic but expects a lot, but most of them let me do what I do and support me... | I would like to share this: I have only studied at this one school, so I only know how things are going there. At our school it seems like there is no competition. I feel like we all like to help each other out, if it is giving personal feedback about a project, or help building something, or just give good advise. I hear that in most other art schools there is a lot of elbows out, competition and such. I don't know why it is like this, maybe because it is in the former GDR, or because it has just always been like this and new people coming in get the vibe and go with it. I really like that :) | ||||||
29 | ZHdK | Switzerland | Game Design | The uni prepares us designers to be good, efficient workers as well as to think creatively. The creative thinking process is also meant to be for problem solving in jobs and corporations, though. | We always had semester projects, where in the end, we always ended up havin gto crunch. I never worked thorugh the whol enight, but I did work until 2am on many occasions. The time pressure was laways there. At night after a certain time I didn't manage to put out anything meaningful anymore. | We can work in our ateliers 24/7, but we can't sleep there. Nowadays we have limited access to the ateliers. | Yes. Anxiety, fear of not performing well enough, not being good enough. | I am currently working as a mentor in a workshop for my uni, for free, but I can document the workshop and use it in my master thesis. So I count this as my payment, somehow. | We get at least 20 emails a day from our uni, it is super tedious to go through all of them and not miss anything. | Yes, in everyone is against it. In Switzerland it's forbidden to have unpaid internships, but the salary can be veeery small. Our profs encourage us to NOT sell ourselves under our worth alll the time, there is awareness, that we need to be firm with the pay we want. | My profs are workaholics but they also tell us to to take breaks and not overwork ourselves^^ | |||||||
30 | HTW Dresden | Germany | Product Design | I thought about it | Until 4am and I could work better under time pressure. I was at university until 2 am and continued at home. | 24/7 | Probably some anxiety | No | Some are, but most of them are relaxed. Its mostly the expectations students have for themselves. | |||||||||
31 | Hochschule Darmstadt | Germany | Communication design | In our economy class the first thing they teach us is that designer is the lowest paid trade with a university degree... | At our university we usually make a party out of the nights of the pre-hand in phase. It’s quite fun. I do have friends who have taken it too far with a collective 5 hours of sleep during the last week before presentation. | As long as you where friends with the tutors, you used to be able to use all facilities 24/7 but now the Uni closes at 10pm | For sure. | No | In my opinion it really depends on the place of work. If it’s a small start up or independent research group, a not yet established studio etc and it is clear they can’t afford an intern, yet I still choose to do it, it’s fine. But if the studio or agency has the money to pay me or if I’m doing very repetitive work where I’m not learning anything of value, internships should definitely be paid | Some definitely expect you to bring unrealistic weekly results. Even classes with only 2ects | Most of the communication designers from my school end up working as graphic designers. I’m not saying that this field isn’t valuable, it’s just not what we were trained for. The university fails to explore the options, a Diplom designer has with their degree from this school. Of course this is also an individual responsibility of the students but as this is kind of a „mass phenomenon“ I think the Uni could address it. | |||||||
32 | HfG Offenbach | Deutschland | Design | Vielleicht - auf jeden Fall habe ich das Gefühl, in eine Richtung gedrängt zu werden im Thema berufliche Zukunft. Ich habe das Gefühl, nur für etablierte Arbeitsformen von Designern der letzten Jahrzehnte vorbereitet zu werden, für andere Möglichkeiten interessiert sich niemand. Einmal hatte ich eine Blockade mit einem Projekt, ich kam nicht weiter und war total gestresst davon. Statt mir Mut zu machen oder sinnvolle Kritik zu geben, wurde mein Professor laut und meinte etwas wie ich solle mich entscheiden ob ich Karriere machen möchte oder als Mutter enden will oder ähnlich. Das hat mich lange beschäftigt - ich finde es völlig legtim keine große Karriere machen zu wollen, sondern nur einen Beruf zu haben den man gerne macht und der einen nicht krank macht. | Das habe ich ganz selten gemacht, weil ich nachts einfach nicht gut arbeiten kann. Aber am Anfang des Studiums noch mehr, als mir die Ergebnisse wichtiger waren. In einem Gruppenprojekt habe ich im 2. Semester sehr viel Verantwortung übernommen und war manchmal 10h am Tag an der Uni. Ich hatte dann Schlafprobleme und war extrem gestresst, seither achte ich sehr darauf, nicht zu viel zu arbeiten. Außerdem finde ich es auffällig, dass manche Studierende sehr stolz von ihren Nächten in der Uni erzählen und ihnen das Selbstbewusstsein gibt, oder das Gefühl, zur Welt der Designer zu gehören. | nur wenige haben Schlüsselkarten um 24/7 ins Gebäude zu kommen. Aber jeder kann einfach da bleiben über Nacht. | Ja. Ich habe mich unter Druck gesetzt gefühlt, gleichzeitig ein Projekt gerne zu machen und die Vorstellungen der Professoren zu erfüllen. Ich musste selbst hart daran arbeiten, meinen eigenen Weg zu finden, darin wurde ich nicht unterstützt. | Ja. Wir sollen zum Beispiel Projekte mit guten Ergebnissen aufbereiten, damit die Hochschule sie bei Instagram zeigen kann. Außerdem werden wir verpflichtet, beim Rundgang unsere Arbeiten auszustellen und 2 Tage lang zu betreuen. Das bedeutet extrem viel Stress und nützt den Studierenden viel weniger als der Hochschule - Einzelausstellungen wären viel geeigneter. Die Kritik, die mein Professor mir gibt, richtet sich oft daran aus, welche Ergebnisse er sich für seinen Fachbereich wünscht, was gut dazu passen würde oder was er gerne mal ausgearbeitet haben würde. Was für meine Arbeit / meine Entwicklung gut wäre spielt keine Rolle nach meiner Auffassung. | Über Weihnachten oder in den Sommerferien und am Wochenende möchte ich keine Nachrichten von der Hochschule. Das ist auch bisher eigentlich nie passiert. Es gibt aber einen Kurs an unserer Hochschule (eine Arbeitsbesprechung von einem Professor im Bereich Kunst), der erst um 20 Uhr beginnt und meistens bis Mitternacht dauert. Ich war auch einmal dabei. | Im Design werden die meisten Praktikanten bezahlt, aber nur sehr wenig (400€ habe ich mehrmals gehört). Das nimmt jeder in Kauf, aber es gibt Studierende, die darüber sprechen, dass sie im Praktikum keine Zeit für einen Nebenjob haben, den sie eigentlich brauchen, da sie kein BaföG usw bekommen. | Ja das kann sein. Aber vor allem werden bestimmte Ergebnisse erwartet, der Prozess und die Entwicklung scheinen nicht so wichtig zu sein. | Es gibt viel Konkurrenz zwischen den Studierenden. Manche machen sich über fachlich schwächere Kommilitonen lustig. Das hängt vielleicht auch damit zusammen, dass "bessere" Studierende eher in Projektgruppen aufgenommen werden und viele Möglichkeiten nur besonders engagierten und selbstbewussten Studierenden zur Verfügung stehen. Zum Beispiel ist es normal, in Werkstätten ausgebremst zu werden wenn man experimentieren möchte und man wird sehr respektlos behandelt wenn man etwas noch nicht kann, viele eher unsichere oder schüchterne Studierende gehen deshalb nur hin wenn es unbedingt nötig ist, zum Beispiel weil ein Professor es erwartet. Manche Studierende lassen unangebrachtes Verhalten der Professoren über sich ergehen, weil sie auf die Vermittlung von Jobs hoffen. | ||||||
33 | Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach | Germany | Photography | the university prepares you to be exploited, to Work for "Student" salary | Had to Always Work at night when printing photographs. But i Chose that. | Thabkfully, whenever I wanted since I Had all the Keys. That was the only was to fulfill my schedule | Yes. And I Had a Hörsturz because of Stress. | Yes.photoshootings. i Gott Like 6 Euro an hours. | That doesnt bother me | Nope. None. | Yes. | I wished that they prepared me more for galkerys, Jobs, taxes. How to function after university. | ||||||
34 | HfG Offenbach | Germany | Design | I dont think that they prepare us to be exploited, but they're more like "u have to be the best, the job market is flooded" which creates pressure (in my case) | I think its a problem of mine, that I'm somewhat lazy (at least I describe it that way.. it's more like I'm thinking that my work isn't enough) and a bit too perfectionist and that combination doesn't go well together. I put off task till the very end and that's why I always have to work till late, but I'm about to change that - can't stand that late night work/working method anymore. | If u organize yourself a key to the building, u can work 24/7 there | Would say no, because I had them before studying, but sure the university stress is additionally | Luckily not, but I witnessed my fellow students like working for underpaid studentische Aushilfskraft | I don't want to receive any news when the project is completely over or we have like Semesterferien and I'm on vacations. I don't want any WhatsApp Msgs from them in my freetime.. I just turned off the notifications by that time. A regular newsletter via Mail is totally fine for me (but WhatsApp is too close in my "friendzone" haha) | Don't think so that there are any discussions in public about this at our uni? But I hate unpaid internships and would never do it. I can understand when ppl do it because it's good for the CV and stuff but no, I'm working nearly full-time, so pay me at least 450€ which is also ridiculous.. | Think they are indeed workaholics but they don't expect that from us (I mean they get paid :D we don't - "just learning for our lives" maybe expected indirectly) | I have the impression that is somehow a norm when u study Design that u have to be rich. Like I have to work hard for a living and other students don't because they just have rich parents. Maybe I'm just jealous of them, but yeah I think that hinders me in a way to study carefree and investing money on my projects. | ||||||
35 | HfG Offenbach | Germany | Art | This Question is an ideological statement. In capitalism any kind of education is a preparation for exploitation. So yeah, the question is kind of nonsense. Personally I think that the arts department at least is quite detached from the exploitation that exists in the market and public institutions. This is good, because it gives people time to grow, it is also bad, because after studying they are unprepared. University has it's own structures of exploitation also. E.g. professors pressuring students to perform only for their courses and exhibiting them as trophies. | I have rarely worked really late. I sometimes worked until about 11pm, but mostly because I got up so late, so that was ok-ish. When I worked at night it was by concious choice. I know however that a lot of friends worked and work unhealthy night times. | You can get a key to get 24/7 acces. (before the pandemic). That was great for things like painting or photo developing. | I definitely stressed a lot about getting recognition as a student and a person. Hierarchies between older and younger students also were a cause of grief.The feeling of having chosen a financial and social dead end was also quite present. | As all work is documented and occasionally used to promote, yes I did. It would have been nice if they had asked before publishing. On the other hand, the documenting photographers are always students, and they are paid well. Only problem is that they usually ask the same person over and over again for the job. | There always are a few professors that are known for very late courses or for calling students too often/at unconsiderate times. I chose not to study there and was lucky that they didn't teach my core interests. | These issues are discussed quite separetely between desing and art faculty. In the Design faculty casual exploitation seems to be expected both in university and in internships. My opinion? Any labour should be paid a living wage. | This type definitely exists, however right now we don't really have some of these at university I would say. | We had ongoing problems with sexism that nobody really wants to tackle. We don't seem to have a single physically handicapped student. There definitely is some implied racism and classism. Also lots of corruption on higher levels of the organisation. Overall I found studying art to be a great way to spend my youth, it just keeps me worried about the future. Meh. | ||||||
36 | UdK | Germany | Art and Media | I've thought about that, about the university as part of a system of institutions (incl. prison) that place and educate people to fit functionally in whatever is needed in society at a given moment, (being that whatever government is in office at that given moment gets to decide what is needed, but rarely do people really get involved into thinking for themselves what might actually be needed around them and how to engage genuinely as a unique person). as we live in a late capitalist era, it only makes sense that, at least in general, universities do prepare people to accept exploitation, directly or indirectly. | with special deals it is possible to access 24/7 | i've suffered mental health problems but i would not link that exclusively to the university, as university is only one of the institutional/societal stressors. banks, the real estate economy, the system of control (burocracy), the food industry, and on top or at the bottom of that all issues regarding discrimination of people who are "different", plays a role into my well being | Our department in specific is less frantic than others, and I'm glad about that. The only tasks I did unpaid had a feeling of community to them and other types of "rewards" that didn't make me uncomfortable about doing them at all. But thats only my perspective, since i am good at dodging extra work that is unpaid. | No, not in my studycourse. | Not that I remember. I would refuse any unpaid internship, it doesn't make any sense to me. First of all how are people to pay their rent and food; second of all, if they are rich that they don't need a payment, then why wouldn't they then prefer working on their own ideas/portfolios/projects instead? | No. | Some departments at art universities cater to individualism and this goes hand in hand with catering to exploitation. When people are not encouraged to reach out and make bonds/community with one another already as students, in an environment of collaboration instead of competition, then when can they? | |||||||
37 | Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle | Germany | Industrial Design | The university offers very little support in reducing study time. It often happens that students work on projects for more than 12 hours, even at night. | I myself have severely limited my working hours in the evening. My girlfriend has also made sure that I don't do too much. The university is often busy at night with working students. | 24/7 | No diagnosis, but the stress was already great at the end of the semester. | In order to obtain a Bachelor's degree, each student must spend one day promoting the university. | That's how it feels sometimes. | |||||||||
38 | Universität der Künste | Germany | Visual Communication | They prepare us to be exploited, I agree. Professors demand us to commit ourselves entirely to our work without care of our health; oftentimes setting tight deadlines and huge workloads. They also tear our work apart in a harsh way; critiques are brutal sometimes. They constantly tell us that they are preparing us "for the world outside", but I've never experienced clients who were as contradictory and bad as some of my professors. | I constantly work at night, mostly from home. During the day I have courses, during the night I do "homework" for these courses. | Because of corona we don't have access rn | Yes. | We volunteered for a university booth at an art fair and have done designs for university events. It was always called "volunteering" and I didn't question it. | I wish there weren't any unpaid internships - it's exploitation. As far as I can tell, corporations profit a lot from students' work. I have never heard professors questioning this practice, tho. Only among students. | No. It feels as if most professors have forgotten what it's like to be a student. They work as professors now, but their artistic (freelance) work has usually dried up. | UdK has a very rigid, old-fashioned hierarchy. You cannot critisize your teachers/profs in any way, even if they did something wrong or unjust. They are the kings and the students are beneath them. They don't care about your personal goals and talents. When you're studying and living in this environment for a few years, you start to feel as if you are worthless. | |||||||
39 | RWTH Aachen University | Germany | Civil engineering | I think the university prepares me | I had worked very often the nights before the exames | 7am to 10pm | No | No | No | No, but I think you should earn money while internships | No | I like the online Semester because you don't need to wake up that early | ||||||
40 | Germany | Architecture | Totally, they said that they want to prepare us for the exploiting labour market. But they didn't step back to understand that teaching like this is really unreflected and contraproductive concercing health and environment. | Every time at the end of the semester. | 24/7 | Yes I god really stressed out a lot! | Oh so many times! Especially when it comes to political topics! Together with other students I organize a seminar about the climate crisis (1 day work a week), without the university supporting the seminar financially. Though the university loves to use us as a good example, for what is going on climate-wise at the institution. | Evening, Weekends, Holidays | Not at all. | Yes there are workaholics too. | Architecture professor in the introductory lecture in "Fun" "Welcome to the study of architecture. I recommend that you give up your flat and end your relationship. Because you no longer have time for that. From now on, your life will only take place here." | |||||||
41 | Burg Giebichenstein | Germany | Fashion Design | Kind of. But I think there is much space to adjust the workload, especially in a higher semester. The first year was sick, but also good because it was new. | I always had one night per semester where I slept at university, mostly at the end, but I also like to sleep long, so the work at night somehow balanced that. But now I also work at the weekends, because we have so much courses and 2 free days are not enough for making a collection. That leads my brain to not stop thinking of my project and therefore a weird social and sexual life. | 24/7 | I don’t think so. I sometimes have issues like „how can I ever do this, I am totally bad, I should exmatriculate“ but this is only in the beginning when creativity is not ready 24/7 to give me some nice input how to do this. | No! We get paid for nearly everything we.... moooooment! The first year fashion design had to do the catering for the fashion show one time per semester (so 2 times) and we had to prepare food for 250 persons with 500 euros, while we had to finish our own projects.. | I check my emails once a day when I already do stuff for university. Strange professors that get up at 5. | That is not okay! No! Never! When I work for a brand, that is extremely popular and have good income, then they should have the 800 euros per month to pay an internship. No excuses! | No don’t think so. | None :) thank you for this survey! | ||||||
42 | Burg Giebichenstein University of Arts and Design | Germany | Industrial Design | Yes. Sometimes. Especially when I had to finish my work because otherwise I would get exmatriculated on the long run... | It was in my first semester. For a little course where I had to make a little puppet. I was new to sewing. So it took me far too long to finish my little puppet. From 8 pm til 4 am. | 42/7 | Not yet. | As a member of STURA. Yes. | No. I can't afford it to miss mails. Especially in Corona times. | No | I don't know. I'm sure of on professor. | |||||||
43 | Burg Giebichenstein Halle | Germany | Fashion Design | Yes | I did some all nighters or slept at uni maybe once or twice a semester. Mostly because of time pressure but I'm slowly learning that working long hours doesn't make it any more efficient cause my body just gives in. Working while being tired and stressed at the same time doesn't really bring out the best results. | 24/7, the workshops close around 4pm though | yes | Yes I did and yes I questioned it. Why does the institution preparing you for the future doesn't value your time? What does that say about them? Playing right into the preparation for exploitation topic. | mails during the semester break, or those really short notice mails, where you suddenly find out that you have a course the next day and the ones in charge forgot to mention it but you're still expected to prepare for it | there are discussions but not enough, I think unpaid internships are just the worst in most cases, if the job's interesting and you just really want to be there I can understand it's easier to overlook the lack of money for it but the general opinion on unpaid internships should be shifted towards being unacceptable, it's work and it should be paid | i guess so | none for now | ||||||
44 | Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd | Germany | Communication Design | Especially the 3rd Semester is called the Horrorsemester. The workload is horrible. And nobody is complaining because if you complain about the workload then you are not good enough to be a designer. Deal with it. | Always under timepressure, nightshifts are a common thing. Sometimes 2 weeks in a row. | 24/7 | I suffer from a depression since first semester | Yes, every exhibition I worked for the university to organize that shit. Paid for the prints and all the stuff, which needs to be represantive for the university’s sake. | On weekends. Please stop. | There are no discussions. | I think they are not aware about the amount of work we put in our projects. They don’t know how long it take to research and learn new applications. They are too old and studied in the 90ies. | During my bachelorproject my professor always told me that I work too slowly and should work during the Christmas holidays, otherwise I wouldn’t pass. He also said to me that I have to work 10 hours a day minimum. Otherwise my project will be bad. | ||||||
45 | National Institute of Design | India | Graphic Design | i completely agree. There's this constant narrative of "this is how the industry is" without acknowledging that the industry is made by people like us. | On Saturday we receive a mail to reschedule a course which got displaced because of the pandemic. At a ridiculously short notice we were asked to assemble online for a two week course on the moving image, and no class hours were mentioned. When class finally started, it went on for twelve hours!! From 11 AM to midnight, with "breaks" given for doing homework for the class itself. Afterwards an assignment is given with the deadline for the next morning. | 9PM during the week. But none since the pandemic.. | Yes. Anxiety. Loads of it. | No fortunately those were all paid for. | Yes got an email at 3AM once for an assignment due next morning. And a prof kept on taking class till 12 AM. | Yeah sometimes they try to justify it. I feel like it's only perpetuating an exploitative culture rooted in privilege. | Yes | |||||||
46 | Universidad de los Andes | Colombia | Design | Yes. I'm currently an intern (graphic design studio) on my last semester of university and i work even more than i used to work in my early studies. | When the pandemic hit, we used to work for 12 hours without stopping to meet the deadlines and achieve good grades. Illustration, UX programs and graphic design were the tasks that took us the longest. I literally went to bed (right aside my working desk) to wake up 3-4 hours later to present the project virtually. No showers. No breakfast. Then, when it was the turn of other classmates, i would shower and eat. Didn't pay attention to their projects: there was no time. | Till 9 pm but there's 3-4 days in the semester where you can stay all night working and hanging out because of midterms, deadlines or final projects. | Yes. I have developed attention issues from working in a computer all day, i got allergies with no explanation and when i went to the doctor they said it could've been stress. Of course, I got medical care after finals. Priorities, am I right? | Yes. I made book covers and participated in "contests". Ended up designing the university's webpage for students. The first one (book cover) had a grade in an illustration class. The second one, I thought, was an opportunity to make my portfolio better. | During vacation. Sometimes they don't submit grades on time and when I'm resting I get grades and feedback | Many of my uni friends had unpaid internships. I think it's unfair. | Yes. They have very full schedules and tell us to manage. | - | ||||||
47 | UdK Berlin | Germany | Visual Communication | Yes, definitely. There is always this myth that hard work "pays off" and gets you to the top, but this myth completely ignores socio-oeconomic factors like financial background, networks, nepotism, illnesses, gender, race, etc. And you will blame yourself in the end, if you can't make it, which is absurd, if you think about it. | My Master graduation time was my peak stress level. I work 12–14hrs 6 days a week, often into the night – even though I started to work at 10 AM every morning. Of course, it is normal to have a higher workload during your MA, but I remember only sleeping 2hrs before my final presentation, because I left university at 7AM in the morning after being there all night. This also happened on a regular base during end of years shows. I remember seeing other students building beds and spreading out sleeping mats in the class. It almost felt like there was a low key celebration around long night working and exhausion. One time I was setting up an artwork at 3AM in the morning on a scaffolding. I was so tired, that I was constantly afraid to fall of that scaffolding and thinking about it afterwards it was just luck that nothing happened, I didn't slip eg. | 24/7 | Yes totally, I developed a chronical illness due to the high stress and expectation level in studies. This lowered my work capacities significantly because I have a much lower stress resilience now and feel constantly exhausted. | I organised a lot of workshops and talks out of my own interest. Back in my BA studies I designed the end of year show visual identity which of course lead to countless unpaid long nights because I did it out of enthusiasm. Nowadays I still think it was good for gaining skills, but felt completely taked for granted by professors to overwork on it. | Yes, direct text messages on my phone at night by Professors before an exhibtion asking me to make last-minute changes. | Nope, there where none. | Yes | Sexual harassment, very harsh critique which gets very personal, sexism | ||||||
48 | Academy of Fine Arts and Design Ljubljana | Slovenia | Graphic Design | Not until now- there was always this feeling that your worth and success are defined by the number of hours you put in, which also seems to be rewarded. More than once we were told we need to spend as much time working at home as we do at university, which would account for 10+ hours every day. | I would start working after university and then continue through the afternoon and night, taking my computer to bed because I was too tired to be sitting. It sucks that even though I regularly do my university work there never seems to be enough time, part of it is due to my perfectionism. I definitely do not work better at night, I'm a total morning person but because I have university during the day I have to keep awake if projects need more time. | Untill 8 pm | Yes. I also have ADHD so sometimes it can get overwhelming, I experienced signs of burnout and had to stay home on occasion- which resulted in more stress. | No | There are times when we get super late emails about next day activities | Not really, but oftentimes it's hard to form a stance because on the one hand, you get the message that working for free will bring you opportunities that will later bring more income and that maintaining good relationships will pay off, especially if you are a student, on the other hand, there is an encouragement to charge properly and it's highly criticised to work under a certain wage. (but there is also definitely not enough talking abt how to charge) | Seems so | Not being taken as seriously as a woman, criticism and lower grading for doing designs that do not fit the taste of your professor, being encouraged to think critically and explore more but then being criticized for it (when it doesn't fit their viewpoint). Also, no subjects regarding life after uni as a designer. | ||||||
49 | DHBW Ravensburg | germany | Media Design | Yes, almost every second week | I am really bad at working at night. I am a person who needs a lot of sleep. There were some nights in a row where I had to work till 2am (longer is not possible for me) but weren’t finished at all. My group which is better at working at night stayed. I felt so bad that I haven’t closed one eye. From day to day I feel much worse. Anxious. It felt like living beside my body. Till I got a panic attack. That was my point where I took one week off. And even I paused I felt bad for my group. | 24/7 | Yes. I had issues before my studies so I know my mind really well and take a lot of care of it. But at one point it wasn’t possible anymore. | No | No it’s just the workload | Yes | ||||||||
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